#TBT Throwback Thursday: Albanian Landscapes & Tirana (Tirane)

I never would’ve considered Albania to be a tourist/traveller destination if it wasn’t for a Contiki Tour I signed up for in 2007.

I stayed at Tirana (Albania’s capital city)for one night as part of a stopover. There are three things I distinctly remember about the drive to and from Tirana (Tirane).

1. Hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers– over 700,000 in fact – scattered across the country, thanks to the nearly forty-year leadership of Socialist ruler Enver Hoxha of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania.

Digital cameras weren’t so great back then and I wish I had taken better photos, especially the bunkers as those were just eerie to look at. Also because Tirana was only a stop over, I didn’t really get to explore the city as much as I wanted to. Being on an organised tour means if the bus is delayed (which it was), then you tend to lose major exploring time.